The sea breeze carried the salty scent of the ocean as it gently brushed against the pink walls of Kame House.
The air above the beach suddenly twisted in an unnatural way.
Without warning, without any light or sound effects, Krillin appeared out of thin air on the sand with one hand holding Trillin.
"So this is Instant Transmission? Way faster than flying on a plane, though it makes your head spin a little."
Trillin shook his head, his black hair glinting under the sunlight.
He wore a small jacket printed with the word BADMAN, a piece of clothing that reflected Bulma's odd sense of humor. Below it he wore loose training pants.
"Once you learn how to sense energy, using this technique is as easy as thinking about it," Krillin said while casually straightening his collar.
He was dressed casually today. A white T-shirt and blue jeans. Nothing about him looked like a martial artist. He seemed more like a tourist enjoying a beach vacation.
"Hey! Krillin! You're here too!"
A familiar voice called from the sky.
A golden Flying Nimbus streaked downward through the clouds, leaving a bright trail behind it.
Son Goku's ever cheerful face came into view. Sitting in front of him on the cloud was a small boy wearing a red hat with the Four-Star Dragon Ball on top.
"Goku, long time no see."
Krillin greeted him with a smile, though his eyes briefly drifted toward the shy little boy who was clinging tightly to Goku.
The Nimbus stopped abruptly above the beach. The sudden halt nearly sent the boy flying, but Goku quickly grabbed his son's tail and pulled him back.
"Gohan came too? He looks... pretty quiet."
Krillin walked over. Trillin stood beside his father with his hands in his pockets, giving Gohan a cool and slightly smug look.
"Yeah. Chi-Chi keeps him busy with studying all day."
Krillin had only taken Gohan out a few times over the past year, and even those rare outings had made Chi-Chi worry constantly. Thinking about it, Krillin could not help but shake his head slightly.
Goku scratched the back of his head and set Gohan down on the sand.
"Gohan, say hello to Uncle Krillin."
Gohan shyly hid behind Goku's leg, peeking out with only one eye. His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"H-Hello, Uncle Krillin."
"Hmph. Still so timid," Trillin muttered quietly.
His voice was soft but loud enough for Gohan to hear. The boy shrank back even more.
"Haha, he's just shy around strangers."
Master Roshi walked out of the house leaning on his cane. His signature sunglasses rested on his nose, and his bright Hawaiian shirt hung open, revealing his thin chest.
"Krillin, you've gotten stronger over the years. I can't even sense your energy anymore."
"That's intentional. I don't want to scare everyone."
Krillin shrugged.
His gaze briefly passed over Master Roshi's head. The newly upgraded AR Data Vision activated automatically.
Name: Master Roshi
Battle Power: 139
Status: Still a shameless flirt, currently staring at the sea turtle and wondering if it would make good soup
"By the way, where's Bulma? Didn't she come?" Goku asked while looking around.
"She's at home doing research. Something about developing support medicine for Trillin. Honestly, I don't really understand it either."
Krillin answered casually.
In reality, Bulma was studying how to dismantle and analyze the spherical spaceship that had just arrived on Earth.
While everyone chatted happily, one thread of Krillin's Multi-Mind ability quietly focused on a remote wilderness thousands of kilometers away.
There, a violent and sinister energy was moving rapidly across the land.
On a barren rocky plateau, fierce winds roared through the air.
Piccolo sat cross-legged on top of a massive boulder. His white cape flapped violently in the wind.
His eyes were closed and beads of sweat ran down his green skin as he focused on meditation.
Five years had passed since his defeat.
Not by that bald human... no, by Krillin.
The humiliation still gnawed at him like poison.
"Damn it... no matter how hard I train, that endless gap in power never disappears."
Piccolo suddenly opened his eyes and smashed the boulder beneath him with a single punch.
At that moment, his sharp hearing detected something unusual.
It was not the wind.
It was not the cry of an animal.
It was a cold, murderous presence racing toward him at incredible speed.
"Who's there?!"
Piccolo spun around instantly and prepared for battle.
A figure slowly descended from the sky.
The man had extremely long black hair and wore strange brown and black armor. A furry tail wrapped around his waist, and a green lens covered his left eye, flashing with strange streams of data.
Raditz landed on the ground, crushing gravel beneath his boots.
"Oh? There's someone here with a decent battle power."
Raditz tapped his scouter and smiled with contempt.
"Battle power 322. On this pathetic planet, does that make you an elite?"
Piccolo's pupils shrank.
Who was this guy?
The pressure coming from him felt like standing in front of a monstrous dinosaur.
And the way he looked at Piccolo was the way a predator looked at prey.
"Who are you? Are you looking for death?"
Although Piccolo felt uneasy, his pride as the Demon King would not allow him to retreat.
"Who I am doesn't matter."
Raditz crossed his arms and barely glanced at him.
"What matters is why a Namekian like you is living on such a low-level planet. Did you flee here too?"
"Namekian?"
Piccolo froze for a moment before anger erupted inside him.
"Enough talk! Die!"
He raised his right hand as energy gathered instantly into his palm.
"Explosive Demon Wave!"
A massive beam of energy blasted forward, carrying enough power to destroy an entire city.
Boom!
The explosion shook the entire plateau. Dust and shattered rocks shot into the air like bullets.
Piccolo breathed heavily while staring at the center of the smoke.
"Did... did it work?"
The smoke slowly cleared.
Raditz was still standing exactly where he had been.
He had not moved even a single step.
One hand was raised casually in front of him, and it was completely unharmed.
"That's it?"
Raditz brushed his hand casually as if swatting away a fly.
"You kicked up all this dust just to choke me?"
Piccolo froze completely.
Cold sweat ran down his skin as fear tightened around his heart.
Not a scratch.
How was that possible?
That attack had been his full power.
Just then Raditz's scouter began to beep.
"Hm? There's a stronger energy reading in another direction."
He glanced at the coordinates displayed on the device.
A small island to the south.
"Battle power... 334. Now that's more like it. That must be Kakarot."
Raditz lowered his hand and did not even bother looking at Piccolo again as he floated into the air.
"You're lucky, Namekian. I have more important business today, so I'll spare you."
With that, he shot into the sky like a beam of light and vanished.
Piccolo's legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees.
Surviving did not make him feel relieved.
Instead, it filled him with deeper fear and humiliation.
"That monster... a real monster..."
At Kame House, the waves still rolled peacefully across the shore.
But the faint smile on Krillin's face slowly faded.
"He's coming," Krillin said quietly.
"Coming? Who's coming?"
Goku was playing with a crab while teasing Gohan. He looked up in confusion.
The next moment, a terrifying presence descended from the sky.
The bright sunlight seemed to dim. The air grew heavy and thick.
The seabirds stopped calling.
The turtle retreated into its shell.
Even the sound of waves hitting the shore seemed quieter.
Thud.
A pair of brown combat boots slammed into the sand, leaving two deep craters.
Raditz stood there, his long hair whipping wildly in the wind.
The brutal aura of a Saiyan warrior poured out without restraint, pressing down on everyone like a mountain.
Everyone except Krillin and Trillin.
Krillin calmly sat in a beach chair sipping tea.
Trillin stared curiously at the "long-haired weirdo," even reaching out as if he wanted to tug on Raditz's tail.
"I finally found you."
Raditz ignored everyone else and locked his gaze directly onto Son Goku.
"Kakarot."